Disclaimer: All GetBackers characters belong to Rando Ayamine and Yuya Aoki
Rated T for now.
It's Been Raining, Emperor
1.
Written by: teckno
Heavy stinging rain poured endlessly over the sleeping city of Shinjuku. The landscape was darker than usual. Thanks to the occasional appearance of rapid lightening from the graying turbulent atmosphere above, most of the streetlights were out, including everything else that required electricity, making it difficult for a person to see anyone or anything within the vast darkness. It was the perfect blackout for a thirsty vampire.
Akabane's slim purple eyes searched the skies for any signs of the moon but alas, it seemed to have lost itself amongst the thick blankets of rain clouds. A satisfying, almost wicked chuckle, tickled his pale lips. Melodic thunder soon roared softly in a midnight symphony to accompany the surrounding weather and the demon's homicidal fancies.
"Interesting…"
White gloved fingertips lowered the tip of his black damp hat, water dancing off its surface like firecrackers as the man allowed a rippling surge of tingling excitement to overcome his body—one that lived, breathed and desperately itched for such an arousing sensation.
A gang of professional jewelry thieves, consisting of several members, ran in a panic to what they thought was a street. It was too dark for any of them to tell. The pitch-black alley unfortunately held a brick wall at its end. This particularly made the impeding predator most pleased. The direction and location of the splashing footsteps were beautifully obvious. It was going to be easy entertainment tonight. Releasing a set of slender scalpels with his right hand, the transporter gladly followed the audible hints.
"He's coming! Run faster!" cried the leader of the gang, taking a mouthful of falling raindrops and trudging recklessly through the deep pools of water behind the group.
"But Boss! I thought he was on our side!" One of them up front turned back to the sound of his leader's voice and heaved a breathless reply. "We gave him the diamond already! What else does he want?"
Hearts pounding fiercely, the thieves picked up their pace as if they were blindly running away from a blood-hungry, carnivorous, and man-eating creature.
"I don't know!" The boss snapped back.
To their horror, their bodies hit hard against a solid brick wall. They fell down to the alley ground with big splash mixed with rainwater and dirt.
"God, no!" A thief got back up and ran his hands all over the wall, hoping frenziedly, that there'd be a hole or that the wall would topple down so his friends would still have a chance to run. The bricks did not bulge. Everyone grew quiet. A feeling of utter hopelessness encaged the thief's draining spirit, as did the rest of the gang. The beating of his heart slowly began to fade away as the calling of death brushed across his muscular shoulders. Murmurs from his colleagues of something about light diverted the thief's attention. He quickly turned around, barely making out the outlines of his mates' shadows and looked ahead with the best of his eye's ability.
A faint, fan-like blue light, waving back and forth, could be seen through the rain, coming closer towards them from a distance. The thieves wished they could hear who or what was approaching but the pounding raindrops muted all else.
Akabane wore a content smile as he daintily and steadily strode his way into the alley's dead end with one hand at his side and the other displaying his trusty glowing scalpels. Using his eyes was not necessary to find his targets in the looming darkness. He only needed his sense of smell. With his nose, he could smell the scent of fear consuming an individual, the sweat trickling down human flesh, the chatter of teeth, the tiny hairs rising up from someone's back, the intense blast of adrenaline shooting up a person's entire nervous system and most importantly the sweetening aroma of fresh juicing crimson blood coursing through plump veins. The transporter could feel his own system shooting up the same kind of rushing adrenaline. He wanted some. He wanted to taste all that fear, terror, adrenaline and that dripping red liquid at the tip of a clean scalpel with his snake-like tongue. It did not matter if he had already completed his job of transporting the stolen diamond to his client. The purpose of a job was to enjoy it. Completing his petty work tasks was not fulfilling enough for his bloodthirsty appetite. He craved to see people at his mercy, to see their minds waltzing in torture, to see the wild facial expressions that would occur before he'd gut them with his tally—the initial "J"…
"He's here…Dr. Jackal!" The leader whispered hoarsely with a defeating gulp following after.
The man covered in black would usually take his killings at an instant but tonight, he felt like teasing his prey with a short chase just for fun. The waving blue light stopped suddenly a few feet away from the gang, which then started the flight of terrorized moans and begging pleads of sparring life from those that were clinging to the brick wall. Their screams grew louder as they witnessed the haunting silhouette of the murderous Dr. Jackal after a lightening bolt lit the sky behind him.
With an airy and invisible draft that cut through the hammering rainfall, Akabane swung both hands out that readily held the sharp instruments and prepared to slice the robbers all at once but his movements suddenly halted. His eyes shot wide open with a sickening shine, captivated in obsession. Images of Raitei, the Thunder Emperor of Infinite Castle and his alter-persona, Amano Ginji began to carousel around the predator's mind vigorously. The transporter systematically withdrew his knives and stood there as the gang of thieves flew past him, escaping successfully from the clutches of the devil's hunger. Why did he stop? The man pondered quietly, looking down at his twitching fingers. "Raitei…"
Thoughts of the naive blonde and his compassionate values sent a crawling vibration up Akabane's spine. This was not like him to stop abruptly during a kill and it was definitely not his nature to be easily affected by another individual. How unusual, he thought. Flashbacks of his closely intimate battle with the Thunder Emperor and how it almost released the demon's true power eased him. Nothing could ever match the burning stimulation and excitement brought on by the emperor that he had felt that time in Infinite Castle. Ginji was the first person to ever defeat him in battle when they had first met. Akabane placed his hands in his pockets and smiled bitterly. No one has given so much energy, hatred, passion, fear, power, anger and obedience. Ginji was also the first and only being that has ever dared to showcase such raw demonstrations of the human mind and its emotions to him. All people were too afraid, too petrified of Akabane's presence to show anything. Akabane knew only fear from others but the emperor had shown something entirely different, something more than his dangerous imagination could stretch. It's been a long time since anyone interesting existed. "I won't kill anyone tonight, Ginji-kun…"
Knowing that he had let a good and delicious opportunity go to waste, he still felt satisfied. The feeling of killing those thieves was worthless compared to the sensations that he had received from battling or being in the company of Ginji. Just thinking about the electric blonde alone could stimulate Akabane's mind for days. The transporter adjusted his hat and departed from the alley silently, looking up once or twice to catch a glimpse of the towering fortress of Mugenjou from the distance with increasing desire.